Web promotion is challenging and potentially costly, unless you carefully plan a program that fits your income potential.  You've built your website.  Your merchant account is active and costing you $15-$50 per month, or more, depending on the services included.  You're also probably paying $8-$50 a month for hosting and website maintenance services.  However, you soon discover that you're not the only storefront on the cyber-boulevard.  

There are three principal factors that drive the traffic to your business: 1) product appeal, 2) website design and 3) promotional effort.  If you're selling products that only appeal to a group of people that seldom access the internet, you cannot expect much success with this medium.  If you only sell a narrow line of popular products, your competition may be drawn towards web stores with a greater variety and diversity.  For example, a site with thousands of CD titles will attract more consumers than a site with only hundreds of titles.  The drop-ship wholesalers listing may help you increase your product diversity with a minimum of cost.

ECommerce entrepreneurs can gain a wealth of useful information from a number of ezines devoted to website promotion.  For example, the articles to the left were recently published in the AddMe! ezine. Advertising through ezines is also one of the most effective avenues for good responses.  These are opt-in publications distributed to individuals who request the subscription.  Several lists of ezines by category are available including the following  e-zine-list and List-Universe.  You may use the Free Information form to conveniently sign up for free ezines of this type.

Most successful web stores are designed nicely with quality graphics to display each item offered.  Detail descriptions and specifications are important especially with regard to electrical, mechanical and health related products.  Most shopping carts provide adequate support for graphic files and descriptive text, as well as tax and shipping costs.  If you need to display products that you manufacture yourself, you will need to have quality photos made and scanned into acceptable image files for each of your products.

There are about a dozen search engines that move the majority of web surfers looking for a new site.  These are the same search engines that you use when you press the search button on your browser.  Each of these search engines has it's own web site with a menu option that says "Add URL" or "Add Your Site".  There's no cost normally associated with this service.  You simply fill in the form with the basic information such as your URL and your e-mail address.  A number of these search engines are listed on the Search Engines page with links directly to the forms to add your URL.

Depending on the search engine, it may take one week to two months before your site is actually listed.  Once it is listed, it may not have a very good position in the search lists if the title, key words, description and text do not reflect the search words used by your intended market.

The resources listed below provide a number of services and advice on the best way to list your site on the main search engines as well as thousands of other search engines and directory listings.  There are also many banner ad exchanges and other free or cheap advertising services, including ezine publications, that are available.  Keep in mind that banner ads may affect the design of your web store and your customers may be distracted by a lot of banner ads.  Many online classified ads services are available for free.  You can search for these services using the optimized search utility below.

The Internet Marketing Center® provides a wealth of information and tools that have been effective in increasing sales dramatically for many e-commerce startups.  The #1 best-selling Internet Marketing course online for more than 3 years running, the "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" course is the product most in demand by internet newbies.

If you prefer a high quality video program to help you grasp the concepts of online marketing, the London Video program by Internet Marketing Center® may be your ticket.

Many ecommerce businesses use a network of affiliates to promote their products. In the Affiliate Metrix Executive Summary, one hundred and forty-five affiliate managers from a cross-section of the industry were surveyed on their overall statistics, as well as a number of issues about their affiliate marketing channels, such as staffing, planning, and management.

The Affiliate Metrix Executive Summary features the raw statistics, an analytic overview, action plan, and industry projections to assist your affiliate marketing insight and strategy.

Another valuable resource, AssocTRAC Software, to help you with affiliate marketing is offered by the Internet Marketing Center®.

Target Blaster is a powerful advertising resource that builds massive double-targeted traffic to your site by dramatically increasing your web presence!  You only pay when an actual pre-qualified targeted visitor comes to your site ready to buy.  They also provide professional site reviews and help you use recently expired domains with established traffic ready for your harvest.

You can post your ads to a number of ezines, similar to the AddMe! ezine listed above, with the services of EzineAd.net.  For only $10 you will have your ad delivered directly to thousands of targeted customers' email boxes.

At TrafficExpress.com $89 will get you 10,000 guaranteed visitors who are pre-selected by target groups.  For an additional $40, double the number of visitors.  As with many other programs listed here, you can also sign up as an affiliate to refer your contacts to this resource and benefit by referral fees.

Search Engine Cloaker automatically generates thousands and thousands of pages JUST for the spiders. These pages are dynamically built from your keyword lists managed via an easy-to-use management console. The result? Hopefully, more listings in the search engines! Which means more traffic (don't forget that search engine traffic is very high quality).

With Traffic Unlimited you can place your advertisement in front of millions!  We offer you cost effective advertising on our network of 15 highly popular and active Internet malls and marketplaces. You have the opportunity to place your advertisement in front of millions for only few cents a day and you can design your campaign for maximum results that fit your advertising budget

Note that the big dot com companies spend more than a few precious nuggets on paid online and offline advertising.  Your advertising strategy should be thought out as early as possible, preferably before you decide what types of products you intend to sell.

• Ad-Up: Targeted Internet Marketing
• AA1 free advertising, marketing tools
• Advertising For Business Entrepreneurs
• Advertising Tips: Internet marketing
• Advertising with Traditional Media for Success
• Affiliate Metrix Executive Summary
• ALACARim.com Internet Marketing Advertising
• azImage - ecommerce media marketing
• AZURE Communications online advertising
• Banner Traders
• Business Internet Marketing
• Command Media: Website Promotion
• Cyberatlas: Advertising
• DimeClicks.com::Complete Marketing Solutions
• DotSubmit.com - Submission software and services
• Downstrike's Free Web Site Advertising Co-op
• EzineAd.net your email ad delivered to thousands of opt-in addresses
• e-zine-list: Keyword: website promotion
• FFAPost - Get your free FFA (Free For All) page
• Free banner services, promote your website
• Free-Banners
• Free Net / Web Promotion! Classified Ads 
• FUSION: ecommerce . media . marketing
• Global online marketing - Multilingual Web Promotion
• GW Web Design - Banner Design
• Krislyn's Favorite Advertising & Marketing Sites
• The Internet Marketing Center® provides a wealth of information and tools that have been effective in increasing sales dramatically for many e-commerce startups

• List-Universe.com Media-Kit
• Marketing connections, e-zine advertising
• Media Central - News and Info for Media and Marketing Professionals
• Outrider - Multimedia Marketing Group
• Paychecks-Online.com marketing and promotions
• Promotion Index - Links to many promotion services
• Promotion World: Your resource for free web site promotion help
• Report World.com Internet Marketing Portal
• Search Engine Cloaker outwits the search engines! 
• SearchHound Creative Services Center
• SiteOwner: Web site promotion and analysis tools
• Smart-Web-Promotion.com - tips and tricks for smart web site promotion
• Target Blaster a powerful advertising resource - pay only for pre-qualified clicks

• TrafficExpress.com $89 will get you 10,000 guaranteed visitors
• Traffic Unlimited - Place your advertisement in front of millions!
• umcmall.com TOP Resources Directory
• Web Site Promotion And Advertising Services Center
• Web Site Promotion Strategies: Tutorials and Links
• WebNetSuccess.com Web Marketing
• WebStars2000 Free URL Submission and safelists

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